Hackettstown, NJ - A new heart-healthy chocolate bar is being introduced in the US, which is claimed to reduce LDL-cholesterol levels and improve endothelial function. The CocoaVia bar, marketed by Mars, includes plant sterols, cocoa flavonols, and a range of vitamins.

Mars says the bars, which will be sold in the healthy-foods section of grocery stores, drug stores, and mass merchandisers, have been designed to "deliver heart-health benefits and real chocolate pleasure at less than 150 calories per serving."

The company cites studies suggesting that cocoa flavonols can increase the formation of nitric oxide, reduce platelet aggregation, and delay LDL oxidation, leading to improved vascular function. It notes that flavonols are found naturally in cocoa beans but are often destroyed during processing, but that it has developed a patented process that helps ensure the flavonols remain active, with each CocoaVia bar containing at least 100 mg of naturally occurring cocoa flavonols.

The LDL-lowering properties of the chocolate bars are brought about by the plant sterols. A study reported at the American Heart Association meeting in November 2004 found that the CocoaVia bars did indeed lower cholesterol levels.

In the study, which included 70 individuals with raised cholesterol levels at baseline, the 35 people who ate a CocoaVia bar twice a day for six weeks showed a 4.7% reduction in total cholesterol and a 6% reduction in LDL cholesterol. But those who were given a control bar containing no plant sterols had no changes in their lipid levels. There were no changes in body weight, blood pressure, or HDL cholesterol in either treatment group. The authors, led by Dr Carl Keen (University of California, Davis), concluded that "phytosterol-enriched chocolate snack bars are effective in lowering total and LDL cholesterol in a hypercholesterolemic . . . population and can be incorporated as a heart-healthy snack food into the diet."

Further evidence suggesting that cocoa flavonols have cardiovascular benefits was reviewed at a two-day meeting organized by Mars in Lucerne, Switzerland earlier this year and chaired by Dr Norm Hollenberg (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA) and Dr Thomas Lüscher (University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland).

At that meeting, Hollenberg and Lüscher presented a new study in which cocoa flavonols appeared to increase synthesis of nitric oxide by blood vessels, increasing blood flow in patients with diabetes, suggesting that cocoa flavonols may help in treatment of vascular disease associated with long-term diabetes. In another study presented at the Lucerne meeting, cocoa flavonols were associated with increased blood flow to key areas of the brain, suggesting the potential for treatment of vascular impairment in conditions such as dementia and stroke.